March 24, 2016

(Above: Plain bagel with a schmear of whitefish salad from Meshuggah Bagels.)

At 6:30 am last Friday when owners, Pete and Janna Linde, unlocked the doors of their handsome new retail storefront for Meshuggah Bagels, a line had already started to form, and it did not stop until they closed their doors for the day at 2:00 pm.

By all measures, opening day was a great success for Meshuggah Bagels on 39th Street.

“Seriously, we unlocked our doors and there was a line outside of people waiting to get in,” says Janna Linde who was amazed by the outpouring of people who showed up opening day.

The line moved quickly on Friday. A friendly woman greeted you at the front door and took your order. Penning it in black Sharpie pen on a brown paper sack, she would slide the sack down the counter to the Linde’s who would start filling bags with bagels. The smell of freshly baked bagels and the visual of glass cases heaping with the familiar round yeast roll with a hole in it was enough to make most mouths water in anticipation. The wait, you could tell, would be worth it.

After ordering, the crowd fanned out across the small dining room. Everyone was looking for an empty corner to stand in, or if you were lucky enough, you might be able to snag a chair from someone whose name had just been called. There are no more that 20 seats inside of Meshuggah Bagels, but on opening day, most people were taking their bagels to go.

The large grey home that was converted into the retail space for Meshuggah Bagels below, and apartments above, has the look of a Boston Harbor storefront from the outside, with classic brass fixtures and black shutters. The front door is located on the side of the building, and there is parking in the back of the building, as well as a few spaces in front. Plan to park on the neighborhood streets surrounding the shop and walk for your bagels, especially on the weekends, when they are likely to be busy.

The inside of the bagel shop has been painted a warm gold with antique wood tables and black colonial style wood chairs continuing the theme. Baker’s racks hang on the walls filled with well-worn wooden spoons and spatulas and cutting boards. This carefully curated collection of traditional old world cooking implements, helps one understand the commitment to baking from scratch the couple does at their production facility in Pleasant Valley.

A framed chalkboard lists the small and simple menu for Meshuggah Bagels. The bagels offered on opening day were: plain, salt, poppy seed, sesame, “everything,” garlic or onion. Bagels are sold individually or you can order a half-dozen or a dozen to go.

They also offer a handful of schmears that you can get on a bagel to dress your dough up a bit. Plain, garlic & herb and salmon cream cheese, whitefish salad, smoked nova lox or fresh lox and a schmear, ranging from $3 for a bagel with cream cheese to $7.50 for a bagel with lox and a schmear.

To drink with your bagel, you can order a cup of the Meshuggah Midtown Medium Roast or Meshuggah 3rd Rail Dark Roast from Maps Coffee Roasters in Lenexa. You can also buy a bag of their blend to take home with you for $12.50.

There were plenty of bagels prepared for opening day, but know that favorites like the “everything” bagel tended to sell out faster than the rest. However, everyone waiting for bagels last Friday were fine with switching up their order just to get bagels in their bag. Soon enough, a truck pulled up from their production bakery and within 15 minutes the counter was restocked with freshly baked bagels and they were off to the races.

There was a natural rhythm that soon developed behind the bagel counter at Meshuggah Bagels, as names were called and orders fulfilled. The couple worked hard to make sure that everyone left satisfied on opening day.

“We are definitely not going to run out of bagels today,” says Linde to the anxious crowd waiting for their orders to be filled. “We baked over 3,000 bagels in preparation for opening day, so we are ready.”

And if the opening crowds at Meshuggah Bagels are any indication, Kansas City is ready for them, as well.

Meshuggah Bagels is open Monday through Friday, 6:30am to 2pm and Saturday and Sunday, 8am to 2pm.

March 22, 2016

When Aaron Confessori, chef owner of Westport Café and Bar, realized he was going to be losing co-owner and chef, Richard Wiles, he knew it was critical to find just the right person to take over the kitchen at the six year old restaurant they built together.

He found two instead.

Confessori welcomes the addition of two new French co-owners and chefs to the Parisian-inspired bistro: Kevin Mouhot and Romain Monnoyeur.

The two chefs came to Kansas City years ago to work an internship at another French restaurant, Café de Amis in Parkville. After their internship, they each moved around to bigger cities cooking and working in Europe, New York and Orlando. But they liked Kansas City, there was plenty of work opportunities, friendly people and a low cost of living.

Starting the process to look for a new chef, Confessori got a phone call from a friend and business contact, telling him that he knew of two very talented French chefs who very much wanted come to Kansas City to live and work.

He agreed to meet with Mouhot and Monnoyeur, and felt the two of them were a perfect fit for Westport Café and Bar. They reminded him of he and several of his chef friends when they were just starting out. Friends who started cooking at a young age, who graduated from culinary school at the same time and decided they made a great team and sought opportunities to work together.

“I was young when I first started in this business, and I was given incredible responsibility and opportunity at a very young age, so I want to provide the same for these two,” says Confessori.

It was a perfect pairing, but there was a catch -- both chefs needed visas to stay in the country and work at Westport Café & Bar.

Confessori took on the challenge, working with his lawyer for over a year negotiating special visas for the two that requires that they be “co-owners” in the restaurant to stay. He went to Wiles and offered to buy him out, which then cleared the legal path for the two new chefs to step into their new positions legally.

“It was a long process, I spent 365 days, created an 800-page document, spoke to the US Embassy and basically paid what it took to keep these two chefs in Kansas City for the next 5 years,” says Confessori.

When asked what will happen to two chefs after the 5 years is over, Confessori says, “Their visas are renewable, but I am almost positive that these two good looking guys will both be married to nice Kansas City gals by then.”

Mouhot will serve as co-owner and general manager at Westport Café & Bar, and will oversee front-of-house responsibilities. With a degree in marketing and hotel management from the BTS Hôtellerie Restauration, Mouhot’s background includes high-end hotels and restaurants across Europe and the United States with previous hospitality positions at The Dorchester Hotel in London and Epcot Center's Monsieur Paul in Orlando, Florida.

Monnoyeur will work as a co-owner and executive chef for Westport Café & Bar, bringing his nine years of French-style cuisine and restaurant industry experience to lead the kitchen operations. Additionally, Monnoyeur intends to slowly incorporate his culinary point of view, with plans for new or enhanced menu items later this spring.

September 09, 2015

When we think back on the summer of 2015 in Kansas City, we might call this the “Summer of the Kickstarter Campaign."

Folks with food and beverage aspirations, stepped up this summer to ask for financial help from their family and friends to fund new artisan food products, food trucks, restaurants and bars. They spent their spring taping intro videos and planning gift levels to launch month-long Kickstarter campaigns, hoping to fund their dream and add something unique to the food and drink scene in Kansas City.

Many of us heard their call, and dug deep into our pockets and gave to those places we felt were really needed in Kansas City. Now, just like us, those people who funded and received their Kickstarter contributions can’t wait until the construction is complete so they can start to give back to those who gave so generously to their campaigns.

With summer in our rear view mirror, it is time to check in with those Kickstarters on the frontline of funded food to get an update on when we can look forward to seeing their faces in these new spaces.

Concept: Magnolia’s

Owners: Chef Shanita McAfee Bryant

Raised on Kickstarter: $15,145

Number of Backers: 142

Funded on: July 30th, 2015

Estimated opening date: Middle of September 2015

Chef Shanita McAfee-Bryant decided to move her existing restaurant, Magnolia’s to a new neighborhood earlier this year. After finding just the right location, she started to remodel the space, sinking much of her savings into the work. That’s when she realize that her new space was going to need more work, than she had capital, and she needed a bit of help to get the place finished.

She launched her Kickstarter campaign in July and by the end of the month had raised the $15,000 needed to finish the remodel of her new location offering enticing gifts for those that donated like “gumbo for life.”

The young chef flew onto the national radar when she won an episode of Food Network’s, television show, Cutthroat Kitchen, beating out her challengers in a competitive cooking environment and winning almost $15,000 in the process, which she had sunk into her new restaurant remodel.

The new Magnolia’s boasts a much larger kitchen, full bar and a private room where she can host large family gatherings serving fried chicken dinners with all the fixings.

She is honest about the amount of work that it takes mentally to run a successful Kickstarter campaign.

“The Kickstarter campaign was exhausting, and I had to take a slight mental break after it was over to regroup,” Bryant says.

You can expect to taste Magnolia’s red velvet waffles once again by mid-September 2015.

“Breakfast by day and ramen by night” was the rallying cry for married couple chefs Josh and Abbey-Jo Eans, who launched their Kickstarter campaign in late March as they announced plans to open Columbus Park Ramen Shop in the 450-square foot garage space behind their current breakfast and lunch restaurant, Happy Gillis.

Kansas City has been observing the exciting progress on their new space all summer, and the couple has kept us up-to-date by posting updates and photos of each step as they completed it, just as they promised they would do as part of their Kickstarter campaign. On social media, they even asked people what they thought of the paint colors, patio and overall feel of their new space as it was all coming together with help from the folks at Utilitarian Workshop.

Their Kickstarter campaign for Columbus Park Ramen Shop raised $41,000 which went to renovate their space, including upgrades to electrical and plumbing, a new bathroom, a new outdoor patio, restoration of an old walk-in that was being used for dry storage, and beautiful hand-made ramen bowls made Columbus Park potter, Paul Mallory, who made all of the Happy Gillis coffee mugs.

“Things are going great, the construction is just about finished, and we have just a few things left to do,” says Josh Eans.

Columbus Park Ramen Shop is currently hiring with hours available Thursday through Sunday, dinner only, 5:30 pm – 10:30 pm. The long-awaited menu will serve four to five kinds of ramen including tonkotsu, chicken, dashi and vegetarian. Canned craft beer and unique Japanese sodas are the planned drink offerings.

“The space looks great, and we couldn't be happier with it,” Eans says.

Be looking for Columbus Park Ramen Shop to open their doors in late September 2015.

For years, Christopher Ciesiel and his wife, Cristin Llewellyn, had been hosting private cocktail parties for friends in their backyard from a stylishly rustic lounge they created out of a shed, the two affectionately called, The Campground.

Having found just the right location, the couple decided they were ready to take The Campground public, with Ciesiel shaking up cocktails behind the bar, and Llewellyn working the front of the house. So, in late July the couple launched their own Kickstarter campaign for the build-out of their tiny bar in Westport.

The couple raised over $20,000 with their month-long Kickstarter campaign making The Campground a reality for themselves, and Kansas City, as well.

“The funds will hopefully be released to us in the next week, as Kickstarter has to verify everyone's pledges and also take their cut,” Ciesiel says.

The two had been entertaining groups of 25 people in their backyard shed, so they plan to keep their new bar space around the same size. The layout of the space will have about 10 seats at the bar itself, and the rest will be bar tops and standing room only.

“We have been working on our branding with Utilitarian Workshop, and we should have a finished identity this week,” Ciesiel says.

They have decided to jump on the space next door to their original location, so now they will be opening at 8 Westport Road, Kansas City, MO.

“Our architect pulled permits on two different spaces, and after considering them both, we think 8 Westport Road would best suit our needs and what we are trying to do,” he says.

Hours of operation for The Campground will be Tuesday – Saturday from 3 pm to 11 pm. With a new baby at home, the couple has no plans to make this a late night joint.

“It has been totally overwhelming and humbling having Kansas City and beyond back you up. It's lighting a bigger fire under us to work harder and be better,” Ciesiel says.

Expect to see The Campground shaking and stirring it up on the Kansas City cocktail scene in the spring of 2016.

The NEWEST Restaurant to launch a Kickstarter Campaign in Kansas City:

Concept: Doughnut Lounge

Owner: Jake Randall

Kickstarter Goal: $25,000

Currently Raised on Kickstarter: $6,335

Current Number of Backers: 129

Number of days left on Campaign: 22

Closing Date of Kickstarter Campaign: October 1st, 2015

Estimated opening date: Early 2016

Kansas City is about to get its very own next-level donut shop.

Last week, local entrepreneur Jake Randall launched a Kickstarter campaign to get Doughnut Lounge off the ground in Westport.

Randall has a business background, as well as experience owning and managing coffee shops. At Doughnut Lounge, he wants to pair great coffee with creative and delicious doughnuts by day, and cocktail pairings by night – all in a cozy and comfortable environment.

Three categories of donuts will be available at the shop. Classic, old-fashioned varieties will include both yeast-risen and cake donuts. Next, more creative creations will include flavors like double chocolate nutella, s’mores, crème brûlée and maple bacon. Finally, Doughnut Lounge will combine its donuts with favorite savory foods, such as pizza, biscuits and gravy or mac 'n' cheese.

The construction and buildout of Doughnut Lounge’s 2,500-square-foot space is currently underway behind the paper covering his storefront windows. Randall, like many entrepreneurs, has faced unexpected construction costs and delays that ate away more of his budget than he anticipated. He hopes that with this Kickstarter campaign, and a little help from his friends and neighbors, he can get the doors open as quickly as possible.

The online campaign is aimed at raising the final nest egg needed to get the baristas, pastry chefs and bartenders in place to open the doors. The $25,000 Randall hopes to raise will sustain his initial payroll and cover opening operational costs.

The Kickstarter rewards for the campaign offer something for every level of donation. From the doughnut-obsessed to the business executive wanting donuts and coffee delivered to his office for free for an entire year, Randall has all his customer bases covered. There are invitations for two to the opening party, and the opportunity to get one free doughnut, per day, for life.

Doughnut Lounge will feature a coffee bar with a full-time barista, as well as a bar serving beer, wine and specialty cocktails. Randall insists, though, that Doughnut Lounge is a donut shop first.

“We are not a daytime coffee shop that serves donuts, or a late-night bar that serves cocktails to pair with our doughnuts,” he says, “we are a donut shop first and foremost.”

Randall confesses he, and his handful of investors, were reluctant to host a Kickstarter for Doughnut Lounge in the beginning, because he thought he had secured what he needed to open the place.

“We fought the idea of doing a Kickstarter in the beginning, because we didn’t want to ask our friends, family and community for any additional capital if we didn’t need it, and at the time we thought we had enough to get everything done,” he says.

The hole in Doughnut Lounge’s plan all came down to unexpected construction delays, additional expenses and finally, the pain of having to start over from scratch with a new design/build team.

“I trusted these people, and I still trust people, in spite of what happened to me on this project,” Randall tells Feast. “I have a wife and two kids who believe in me and this idea, so I simply cannot let this stop me.”

Transitioning the space, formerly home to clothing store Imagery, into a restaurant with a full commercial kitchen and hood has not been a walk in the park for Randall and his team. Doughnut Lounge is also located in a historic building with rules and regulations to manage, and everything needed overhauling and upgrading.

“If this Kickstarter doesn’t fund, and I hope it will, it will not the end of the world for me, or Doughnut Lounge,” Randall says.

The donuts will rise in Westport, he assures.

The Doughnut Lounge Kickstarter will end on Thurs., Oct. 1 at 10 pm. To learn more about how you can support the project, visit the Kickstarter here.

May 10, 2015

Taylor Petrehn is a talented baker, and his brother Reagan is an expert barista. They’d been pursuing separate careers in hospitality halfway around the world from each other, before an old laundromat in Lawrence, Kansas, brought them back together.

It’s on that site that they expect to open their bakery and coffee shop, 1900 Barker Bakery & Café, in May. Construction delays related to retrofitting the laundromat have cost them more than a year, but they’re excited about the possibilities: light wood, white walls, and a comfortable place to start your day with a pastry and coffee -- or just stop by to pick up a hot loaf of bread on your way home from work.

“The space will be an intimate and comfortable spot to land,” Reagan Petrehn promises. “We estimate about 14 seats inside, plus our front porch, which will also have seating.”

The shop takes its name from Lawrence’s Barker neighborhood. “We want the neighborhood to tell us what purpose they want us to serve in their lives,” he adds. “We will be defined by the neighborhood, not the other way around.”

On the bakery side of things, Taylor Petrehn is planning his schedule so that at least five different types of bread will be fresh out of the oven around dinner time, allowing customers to swing by for hot bread on the way home from work. “This way people can experience bread when it is at its best,” he says.

He also plans to make a handful of pastries to go with morning coffee and perhaps open-faced sandwiches for lunchtime treat.

The Petrehns are known in local food circles as “The Fabulous Barker Boys,” and the name fits. Both men are handsome, articulate and humble. It’s impossible not to like them.

Raised on a family farm in Paola, Kansas, the brothers were home-schooled, each eventually leaving the farm at 16 to attend Johnson County Community College. At 19, Taylor graduated with honors from the JCCC culinary program, the youngest person to ever complete the program. Reagan pursued a business degree, with a minor in coffee, and worked as a barista for Parisi’s Coffee to put himself through school.

While Taylor built a 10,000 pound pizza oven, “The Ashery,” in the backyard of the family farm and began hosting pizza parties for friends and family, Reagan found his calling as a barista, realizing he loved teaching others about coffee.

After JCCC, Taylor went to work for the pizza station at Chef Colby and Megan Garrelts’ TrezoVino in the Park Place Shopping Center. Meanwhile, Reagan was approached by a group of U.S. entrepreneurs who had decided to open a chain of retail coffee shops in China. He sold his possessions and took off for China.

Several years passed. Then Taylor, who’d moved to the Barker neighborhood in Lawrence, noticed the little laundromat on the corner.

“I had worked in several fine dining restaurants by this point and I knew I wanted to have a place of my own to bake fresh bread,” he says. “The laundromat seemed like best place in Lawrence to open a bakery."

After a phone call to the owner of the property, Taylor learned the laundromat had closed years ago after a bad water main break. Around Christmas 2013 his offer for the building was accepted.

What followed was a slow remodeling process. It took several months just to get the proper permitting, as the space had been zoned for residential use. But he’s been able to do it with his brother by his side.

In early 2014, while the two were Skyping, Taylor asked him to come home and help him with the project.

“I had to really think about whether I was ready to come home, and if this was really what I wanted my future to be,” Reagan says, “but the importance of having a place that Taylor and I would share was too great, and I packed up and moved back to Lawrence to help with the remodeling.”

With their contractor, the Barker Boys have slowly been working from the bottom of the space up. They replaced the floor joists and reinforced an addition. As of last week they had to block off the street to tear down one whole wall to move in Taylor’s new toy, a 4,500-pound Italian stone-hearth deck oven.

Eventually, the brothers hope to grow the business so they can mill their own flour and roast their own coffee beans, but right now they are just focused on getting 1900 Barker Bakery & Café open and ready for business.

“There were a lot of late nights getting this place open, but it was all worth it,” Borger said. He even rented a small studio apartment above the shop to use as a crash pad while he worked to get the location open.

The new Il Lazzarone shares décor elements with its big sister in St. Joseph, Missouri, with exposed brick walls, handsome reclaimed wood tables and chairs, and shiny red stools around the pizza kitchen and in the bar area.

But the Kansas City location boasts a 6,000-pound Acunto Mario Forni wood-fired pizza oven, twice as large as the one in St. Joe. The oven can cook 10 pizzas in 90 seconds flat.

Opening night, you could hear the din of the dining room from the parking lot, as Borger’s restaurant filled with hungry well-wishers and pizza lovers. Inside, young families gathered around massive communal tables to catch up over Borger’s traditional Neapolitan-style pizza and a glass of beer, wine or a bottle of Coca-Cola.

We ordered the classic Margherita pizza, which Il Lazzarone has been famously certified by the Italian authorities to make, and, at $12, found it to be just as satisfying as the first time we tried it. The crust was chewy with charred bits giving it that wood-fired flavor. A thin layer of sweet San Marzano tomatoes covered the pie, which was then topped with slices of fresh mozzarella cheese and fresh shredded basil.

While the patio furniture has yet to arrive, that didn’t stop some guests from simply picking up their tables and moving them outside to soak up the last few rays of what proved to be one of the prettiest days of the year to date. The patio, which could easily seat 50 or more people once properly set, will be the place to see and been seen this summer in the City Market.

Oh, and did we mention the bar? The layout of the restaurant is a bit unusual, and the bar is located all the way in the back of the space. Once there, you’ll see bar manager Dominic Petrucci, hard at work behind a beautifully appointed bar with shiny red stools all in a row.

Taking your pie to-go? Pop in the back door, directly into the bar area. There you can place your order with the bar staff, plus a glass of wine, beer or a cocktail as you wait for your pizza. In and out, plus a cocktail. Genius.

Chef Joe West quietly announced on his Facebook page that he would be launching his new pop-up restaurant called Kusshi this Spring in Kansas City. His first dinner was held in early May at The Rieger Grill & Exchange and by all accounts, Chef Joe wowed the foodies that flocked to sample his multi-coursed dinner.

West is a talented and familiar face on the Kansas City food scene. He started his career at the age of 16 in kitchen of 40 Sardines with Chef Michael Smith and Chef Debbie Gold as his teachers. West left Kansas City after a few years spent some time in Las Vegas, starting as a sous chef of Stratta at Wynn Las Vegas, then moving to the chef de partie position of Michelin 2 star, Alex of Wynn Las Vegas.

Moving back home to Kansas City, he accepted a prominent position as chef de cuisine at Bluestem restaurant with husband and wife owners Chef Colby Garrelts and Chef Megan Garrelts. West was glad to be home, working for one of the best restaurants in town, in a city that he loved.

“It was working for Colby at Bluestem, that I began to learn the importance of restraint and honoring simplicity in my cooking. I was the chef who was always trying to show you, as the guest, everything I was capable of on every plate,” said West.

West elaborates, “Colby taught me while I was working for him to slow down and see the beauty in each individual ingredient in a dish, and it was that revelation that has informed my cooking since and inspired my pop-up, Kusshi.”

After several years at bluestem, honing his craft under Garrelts watchful eye, he decided the time was right. With a plan in place, West gave notice at bluestem to pursue his dream of opening up his first restaurant in Kansas City he planned to call “Kusshi.” After several months of searching for financial backers and the right space for the concept, West was frustrated and decided to shelve the dream until he could figure out a way to finance it and still make a living for himself.

Looking for a fresh start and a chance to run his own kitchen, West then moved to Cincinnati, OH to accept a position as Executive Chef and Director of Food & Beverage of The Cincinnatian Hotel. While he was in Cincinnati, West put his head down and went to work, but all the while he was trying to figure out how to get back to Kansas City and get Kusshi financed and back on the front burner.

It was in Cincinnati, West met another young chef named Ryan Santos, and the two chefs did two dinners together as part of Santos successful Cincinnati pop-up restaurant called Please. Seeing how Please was allowing Santos to do his own food, West watched Santos, after 4 years in the pop-up restaurant business, use a combination of private investors and Kickstarter to crowdfund his new brick and mortar restaurant that he plans to open this Fall in Cincinnati.

If all goes well for West with Kusshi, he hopes to follow in the footsteps of Santos and use these pop-up’s as a stepping stone to opening his own brick and mortar in Kansas City.

With that ultimate goal in mind, West is furiously planning multiple first 7-course menus which he plans to roll out every 2-3 weeks with new dinners.

“I’m planning to do dinners about every 2 weeks once I get rolling,” said West who knows the enormity task that lies ahead of him.

People can expect a 7-course fixed menu, and he plans to charge $100 per person, but he explains he really has no rules or regulations on what his dinners might look like going forward. He might play with the format or different cuisines at whim.

“I named my pop-up Kusshi, which means “precious” in Japanese, because no matter what I am cooking, I want to make meals that honor each ingredient, treating them like they are precious,” said West.

The next Kusshi dinner will be on May 31st at the Prairie Birthday Farm. To learn more, or purchase your seats now go to: www.kusshikc.com.

When René Bollier stepped up to take over operations at Kansas City’s oldest and most beloved chocolate shop, Andre’s Chocolates Confiserie Suisse, he knew that he wanted to play a more active role in the local food community.

A 39-year old father of three, Bollier wanted his time at the wheel of the third-generation family company to involve more calculated risk-taking, innovation and collaboration with other food-centered businesses.

That promise inspired his decision to make a dark-chocolate-covered cordial made with local J. Rieger & Co. Kansas City Whiskey, instead of the more traditional German liqueur called kirsch or kirschwasser.

“We’ve always made the traditional European cordials with kirsch in our shop,” said Bollier, “but they never sold very well, and they are very time-consuming to make, taking up to three days, and thus are expensive to buy, as well.”

Inspiration struck when Bollier began drawing up ideas for a Feb. 12 event at the WW1 Museum, Operation Indulgence: Whiskey & Chocolate. As he contemplated bringing the two wartime luxuries together into one indulgent bite, the idea for Kansas City Whiskey Cordials was born.

When he contacted J. Rieger & Co. co-owner Ryan Maybee, the response was quick – and enthusiastic. Maybee and his partner Andy Rieger even provided Bollier with an image of the J. Rieger & Co. logo, so that Bollier could make an edible transfer to mark the top of each cordial.

The cordials were an instant hit at the event, with people stopping by repeatedly to sample them during the night.

And that might have been that.

“It didn’t occur to me to make them to sell in our chocolate shop,” Bollier says. “I just looked at it as a grand experiment, that worked.”

But the people who had tasted the cordials at the event told their friends, who told their friends. The shop started getting phone calls and requests for boxes of the whiskey-filled cordials. “If I could have predicted the word of mouth for those cordials, I could have sold boxes and boxes of them for Valentine’s Day,” Bollier says.

Lesson learned. Bollier and his team are now in production to make the whiskey cordials to sell year-round.

They start the 3-day production process by shooting one ounce of the whiskey mixed with a little simple syrup into corn starch molds. They dust the tops with more corn starch before letting them rest and harden overnight.

The next day, the delicate cordials have formed a sugar shell holding the whiskey inside. At this point, the candies are very delicate, so to get all the excess corn starch off of them they use a light hand and make-up brushes. The cordials are then left to cure and dry for one more night.

On the third day they are sent through the machine that pours liquid dark chocolate over the hard candy shell. They’re left to rest and harden before edible J. Rieger & Co. transfers are placed on top of each cordial. They’re then wrapped in gold foil and placed inside the candy counter to sell for $1.50 each.

Even Bollier is blown away by the taste.

“I knew the cordials would be good, but I didn’t know they would be THIS good,” he says. “It is the hint of sweetness from the Spanish sherry that they put in their whiskey that makes it taste so delicious when it is covered in dark chocolate.”

The executive chef/owner offers a piece of advice for anyone who wants to come in and try one.

“Make sure to eat the chocolate in one bite, because a quarter-ounce of whiskey will come pouring out all over you if you don’t,” he says.

Chef Derek Nacey and his wife, Meghan, proudly opened the doors this Spring to their new gastropub, Blvd Tavern, located at 320 Southwest Boulevard in the Crossroads.

“My food at Blvd Tavern is an adventuresome collection of influences from all over the world,” said Nacey, “it allows me a lot of freedom to cook across the various cuisines and influences.”

Although most of the dishes on his menu look as American as apple pie, a closer look reveals that each dish offers a subtle international twist. Take his best selling appetizer, called the KFC, which stands for Korean Fried Chicken, served with house-made napa cabbage kimchi. It looks like basic fried chicken, but this chicken has been breaded and fried, not once, but twice, in a nicely spiced batter.

Other standouts on the entrée side of the menu, is the British classic fish and chips. Crispy beer-battered cod is served with salt and vinegar fries and mushy peas. Exactly the type of food you would expect from your neighborhood pub.

But the menu item that will win raving fans is the Grilled Rochester White Hot. This is a throwback dish to Chef Nacey’s childhood in New York. A White Hot is a house-made sausage of finely ground pork and veal. It is served on a soft bun topped with pickled onion, cucumber and mustard seed and a nice potato salad.

“This is the dream. This is what I have always wanted to do,” he said his chest swelling with pride as he speaks about Blvd Tavern.

“I knew I wanted to have a place one day where I could use my classical culinary training to elevate comfort food in a casual, come-as-you-are kind of place.”

That is exactly the vibe the couple delivers at Blvd Tavern with the décor, as well. Big windows where you can sit and watch the world go by, a cozy outdoor patio, a long bar with a little less than half of the 65 seats in the restaurant snuggled up at it.

The Nacey’s opened up the front windows to let some much needed light into the space, and they repainted the entire space with homey shade of blue. Weathered wood around windows and doorways come from an old family farm, Edison lights and a mishmosh assortment of farm chairs and custom made benches warm up the space nicely against the exposed brick walls. The overall effect is cozy and casual, just like the couple themselves.

The new bar manager at Blvd Tavern is Valdez Campos, whose laid back demeanor makes his bar a welcome port for anyone looking for a place to land for a quiet drink or a meal. Campos is a talented and popular craft cocktail bartender in town, and his bar will soon be hopping for those looking for an expertly prepared craft cocktail. Highly recommended is the “Picador” made with Tito’s Vodka, Rothman & Winter Cherry Liqueur, house ginger beer and Topo Chico and the “Old Thymer” with J. Reiger Whiskey and thyme syrup. The restaurant also carries a fine selection of craft beer and wines.

Blvd Tavern has been several years in the making for this married couple, both of which have been working in the hospitality business for many years. Nacey is a Hyde Park CIA graduate, and in Kansas City has worked at Fedora’s, Zin and Café Allegro before settling into a corporate job as director of culinary for Houlihan’s for the past 7 years.

Three years ago, they were looking at the space where Melbee’s restaurant used to be located in Mission on Johnson Drive, but they knew the space and the timing wasn’t right, so they waited until the economy improved a bit more before deciding to take over the lease on this restaurant from Bryan Merker, the former owner of Nica's Lagniappe which used to be in this space in the Crossroads.

The restaurant is now open 7 days a week for dinner only, and the bar stays open two hours later than the kitchen. Walk-in’s only, no reservations needed.

Chipotle Mexican Grill has announced the preliminary lineup for its 2015 Cultivate Festival, which will be coming to Kansas City for the first time in festival history.

This is the fifth iteration of Chipotle’s Cultivate Festival, which started in Chicago in 2011. The Cultivate Festival was established by Chipotle to encourage attendees to think and talk about food and the issues surrounding it in a fun and engaging environment.

Cultivate Kansas City will be held on Saturday, July 18, 2015 in Penn Valley Park.

Each Cultivate event will feature performances by popular bands, cooking demonstrations by renowned chefs (both national and local), and interactive experiences for festival-goers of all ages. Admission for all events is free.

“Such an honor to be involved with this cool event! I love that Chipotle is a restaurant that believes in commitment to the community,” said Garrelts.

The interactive experiences at the festival will focus on sustainable food practices, including an exhibit explaining how to make Chipotle’s guacamole, the reality of processed foods and a Kids’ Zone with snacks and fun activities.

Chipotle’s culinary team has also created a special menu available for purchase exclusively at each stop along the festival route. All signature dishes will be made using fresh, sustainable ingredients.

Attendees will also get a chance to sample ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen, Chipotle’s Asian concept, which is not yet in the Kansas City market.

An Artisan Hall will offer food from locals who fit the definition, and a selection of local craft beer, wine, and ciders will be available in the Tasting Hall.

Each festival will feature a Cultivate Farmhouse Ale, a Saison-style beer exclusively brewed from a local brewery. No word yet on which Kansas City brewery may be tapped for this partnership opportunity.

March 23, 2015

On Valentine’s Day, twelve couples made their way 20 minutes northwest of downtown Kansas City, through the romantic rolling hills and fertile soil of the Missouri River Valley to the brand-new tasting room and production facility for Terra Vox, a new Missouri winery from Vox Vineyards.

The invitation came from winemaker Jerry Eisterhold, who sold tickets to a special wine-and-cheese tasting event that served as the official christening for the wines of Terra Vox, which means “Voice of the Land” in Latin.

It also served as a bit of a focus group for Eisterhold, one that allowed 24 people the opportunity to sample his wines, made from the more than 40 different American Heritage Grapes varietals that Eisterhold is currently growing.

“Our winemaking consultant from University of California, Davis, Clark Smith, said we had more grapes in the ground than Gallo,” Eisterhold told his guests with a chuckle. His plan over time is to thin the vines down to the dozen or so that thrive in his soil and produce the best wines for Terra Vox.

Eisterhold’s decision to grow American Heritage varietals was inspired by Thomas Volney Munson, the viticulturist credited with saving Europe’s traditional grape varieties from the late-1800s Phylloxera epidemic by grafting European varietals onto Missouri root stock, which was immune to the pest.

The way Eisterhold sees it, Munson’s work is the philosophical foundation of Vox Vineyards. All the middle-American grapes that Munson discovered in Missouri are the same ones that Eisterhold is growing to make Terra Vox wines.

Although his new tasting room has bottles for sampling and purchase, Eisterhold admits his wines are still a work in progress. He knows he is just at the beginning of his journey.

“At Vox Vineyards, we are just embarking on our journey to discover the individual characteristics of our unusual American Heritage Grapes,” he says. “With each harvest, we learn new information about grape-growing and winemaking.”

Also at the tasting was Sarah Hoffmann, owner/cheesemaker for Green Dirt Farm, who greeted guests warmly. Hoffmann had paired her sheep’s milk cheeses with the ten wines on offer so that one red and one white wine was offered with each of the five cheese courses.

It was during the tasting of Eisterhold’s favorite white wine, Hidalgo, and his peppery 2012 Norton, a red, that guests got a glimpse of where Eisterhold is in his wine-making journey. He admitted to the group of family and friends, “I left the Norton on the vines longer than anyone who makes a living at this would have.”

He is honest about the undertaking’s current limitations. He writes on his website, “This is more a missionary effort than a commercial one – we do not have a tasting room ‘staff’ per se, but would be happy to show you around and give you a taste, scheduled in between winery and grape growing work.”

The Terra Vox tasting room at Vox Vineyard is open by appointment only. To visit the vineyard, call (816) 425-3219 or email info@voxvineyards.com. Tours will be offered to groups of 4-10 on the weekends, and are $10 per person, which includes a small tasting of three Vox wines.

They are also hosting two chef dinners out at their new tasting room in April. One is April 4th with Chef Ted Habiger from Room 39, and April 11th with Chef Michael Foust, The Farmhouse. Tickets can be purchased for these dinners through Brown Paper Tickets.